1. Field of the Invention
An embodiment of the present invention relates to information processing systems in which it is possible to share the setting information prepared by a user among a plurality of apparatuses, and in particular to the technology of sharing setting information among apparatuses with different capacities and functions.
2. Description of Related Art
In digital copying machines, etc., the user can make various types of settings such as copying the original with enlarging it, or reducing several sheets of the original and lay them out in a single sheet of paper, etc. In order to reduce the labor of making such settings every time, many apparatuses are provided with the function of registering the contents of settings used frequently as setting information and recalling such setting information and using it again.
Further, since copying machines and facsimile machines are very often shared among several people, there are apparatuses which have been configured so that the display format of the operating panel or the usable functions can be changed depending on the user. For example, in the apparatus disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-189021, the eyesight and level of skill, etc., are registered in a server as the individual information, the user is authenticated when an apparatus connected to this server is used, the individual information of the authenticated user is downloaded from the server and the display format of the operating panel, etc., are changed automatically.
Patent Document 1: Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-189021
In a conventional apparatus, the setting information, etc. for each user is stored in the memory of the apparatus in which it was prepared, and could only be used in the apparatus in which it was prepared. Therefore, when a person has to use an apparatus that is in a department other than the one that person uses normally, it was very inconvenient because the person has to carry out all the setting operations of the job all over again.
In the apparatus disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-189021, although the individual information is registered in a server and, upon user authentication, the information of that user is downloaded and used in the apparatus, the contents registered in the server are the eyesight, level of skill, etc. and is not intended for setting information that specify the operating conditions, etc. of jobs.
Even if the configuration is such that the setting information of jobs is registered in a server and is called from the apparatus side, since the capacity and functions of the calling apparatus differs depending on its type, very often it is not possible to use the setting information called from the server as it is in the apparatus. For example, the setting information of a job using duplex printing function and prepared in an apparatus A having such duplex printing function cannot be used in an apparatus B that does not have the duplex printing function, and merely sharing the setting information in a server does not provide a usage environment that takes into consideration the differences between different apparatuses.